The country Justin Trudeau most admires? You won’t believe it.

David Akin - November 8th, 2013

Residents ride bicycles along a street amid heavy haze in Xingtai, Hebei province November 3, 2013. Dense smog has periodically shrouded major cities in north and northeast China in recent years, raising increasing public discontent, Xinhua News Agency reported.

So, the ladies had questions. Like this one:

“Which nation, besides Canada, which nation’s administration do you most admire, and why?”

There were about 100 people in the crowd  at swank downtown Toronto meeting place who’d paid $250 each to be able to ask Justin Trudeau questions and, as the ad said, to “really get to know the future prime minister.”

Ok, so other than Canada, which country’s government does Trudeau “most admire”?

While he was thinking about the answer, event host Amanda Alvaro jumped in to give him a bit of time with this one-liner. “Not the fluffy questions some were expecting.”

Much laughter and clapping.

Ok, then. Which country’s government does the “future prime minister” most admire?

Answer: “You know, there’s a level of of admiration I actually have for China ….

Wait a minute. China? He was not asked which country he liked a bit, or was doing a decent job — but “which nation’s administration he most admired.”

So here’s the whole answer:

” You know,  there’s a level of of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say ‘we need to go green  fastest…we need to start investing in solar.’ I mean there is a flexibility that I know Stephen Harper must dream about of having a dictatorship that he can do everything he wanted that I find quite interesting.

But if I were to reach out and say which…which kind of administration I most admire, I think there’s something to be said right here in Canada for the way our territories are run. Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and the Yukon are done without political parties around consensus. And are much more like a municipal government. And I think there’s a lot to be said for people pulling together to try and solve issues rather than to score points off of each other. And I think we need a little more of that.

But Sun News can now report that I prefer China.”

Much laughter ensued. Much laughter indeed.

The pictures on this page, incidentally, were taken this week in the country Justin Trudeau “most admires.” And if he likes what they do in the territories, when asked what nation’s administration he most admires, why not answer “Switzerland“?

Buildings are seen through thick haze in downtown Shanghai November 7, 2013. Chinese cities should close schools, cut working hours and stop outdoor activities during the most severe spells of air pollution, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Wednesday. “Every possible compulsory measure” must be taken to cut emissions during the heaviest smog, which has a serious impact on health, the ministry said, including suspending factory production and imposing traffic restrictions.